Madrid, June 12 (IANS) Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said on Friday he was upset to see FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique booed by a section of fans as Spain defeated Costa Rica 2-1 in Leon on Thursday.
Pique had made the headlines for comments he made on Sunday during Barcelona’s celebrations after winning a league, cup and Champions League treble. He insinuated that Barcelona had got ahead of Real Madrid after photos of Colombian singer Kevin Roldan at Cristiano Ronaldo’s 30th birthday party, which happened the same day Real had lost 0-4 to rivals Atletico, had been the starting point of Barcelona’s fightback, reports Xinhua.
Although he could well be right in that barbed assertion, the pro-Madrid press have looked to build a controversy out of it and that was reflected by the boos from the stand.
While Pique’s former clubmate Xavi Hernandez said “there were probably more Madrid fans in Leon,” Del Bosque was upset by the supporters’ attitude.
“I don’t think what happened is good,” he said, “Pique played his 68th game for Spain today and he has always played for Spain. If you whistle a player, you are booing the whole national team,” continued Del Bosque, who was critical of the sector of the media which had singled Pique out.
“Some media incites violence and hatred,” he said, adding that Pique had been unaffected by the incident.
Del Bosque confirmed that new Barcelona signing Aleix Vidal would not travel to Spain’s Euro 2016 qualifying game in Belarus with an ankle injury, while expressing his satisfaction with what he described as a “good game against a rival who showed a good attitude”.
“We showed an excellent competitive spirit and scored goals in the first half when we created fewer chances than in the second, when we could have scored more,” he said.